“Petrotsouloufis (Shockheaded Peter): Stories about good grown ups and bad children”
Wooden puppets, by the Ayusaya puppet theater workshop, breathe new life into the characters of the most popular, around Europe, illustrated book for children. The puppet show “Petrotsouloufis” (Shockheaded Peter), by Dr. Heinrich Hoffman, is being presented in “Blackbox” hall, in Michael Cacoyannis Foundation and gives promise for “stories about well behaving adults and nasty children.’
Synopsis:
The show consists of nine independent stories which are played consecutively. The link between them is child heroes, who make some mischief violating the warnings given by their parents and eventually pay a high price … Good parents confirm themselves as well as the fair and good world they have built for their children. The whole show is a satire of the hypocrisy of the adults and serves as a poetic medium laughing at “crime” and “punishment”.
It remains faithful to the text and the illustrations, as well as the aesthetics of the original book by H. Hoffman in an excellent translation of J. Mastoraki. The performance has live incidental music.
In a few words
Hoffmann, a German psychiatrist, wanted to buy a picture book, as a Christmas gift, for his son in 1844. Not impressed by what the stores at that times had to offer, he instead bought a notebook and wrote his own stories, illustrated by his own pictures as well. His motivation was undoubtedly to create a brand new, wonderful world for children, blessed by authentic inspiration. In its third edition in 1858 the book was published under the title Struwwelpeter (Shockheaded Peter). Since then, the book became very popular among children throughout Europe, thanks to its originality and directness. Nowadays this masterpiece of global juvenile literature comes back to life by the puppet theater team Ayusaya. Under direction of Mr. Stathis Markopoulos, who established the puppet theatre workshop Ayusaya 17 years ago, we will be able to enjoy a performance with “stories about well behaving adults and nasty children”. With respect to the prototype, the puppet show uses satirical elements as well as black humor and of course laughter in order to face the adult way of fear and hypocrisy to the childish authenticity. Therefore, Ayusaya team manages to handle and work on childhood nightmares in an absolutely “safe” environment for the spectators. Wooden puppets embody in realistic way the characters illustrated by the original sketches, promoting action and creating as a result a “wild” performance for families.
The production is sponsored by the Greek National Center for Theatre & Dance
